Posted on 08/12/2003 5:30:51 PM PDT by Destro
Wednesday August 13, 12:58 AM
Liberian rebels demand power after Taylor's exit
Liberian rebels rejected the country's new president and demanded control of an interim government, as US troops sought to open a gateway to the war-ravaged nation for humanitarian aid.
"We want to lead the interim government," Sekou Fofana, the deputy secretary general of Liberia's main rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), told AFP.
"We will never accept to serve under Moses Blah," he said.
Former warlord Charles Taylor resigned as president on Monday and handed over power to Blah, the vice president, in a formal ceremony that was hailed by African leaders as an opportunity to end 14 years of bloodshed in Liberia.
But Fofana said LURD was unimpressed with the handover, and a promise that Blah would give way to an interim government on October 2, insisting that the rebels were already ready to take up top government positions.
"Our leadership has political leaders and skilled men. Definitely we are part of this interim government," he said.
Meanwhile, General Thomas Turner, the commander of a US force deployed off the coast of Monrovia on three warships, crossed into the rebel-held port area to hold talks on re-opening the harbour at LURD's field headquqrters.
He was accompanied by US ambassador John Blaney and was due to meet Fofana and Seyea Sherriff, the LURD military commander.
As the Americans drove into rebel-held northern Monrovia, thousands of civilians tried to cross into the area to get much-needed food but were blocked by government troops.
Monrovia, where fighting has displaced some 450,000 people according to revised UN figures, needs its deep-water harbour more desperately than ever, for both humanitarian supplies and food, humanitarian officials said.
The United States refused to intervene in the Liberian crisis as long as Taylor remained in office, but the mission by General Thomas Turner to Monrovia showed that Washington was ready to help relieve the humanitarian crisis.
A de facto ceasefire has held in Monrovia, and people emerged from the battle-worn city centre to hunt for whatever meagre food was available.
But fighting raged Tuesday in the second port city of Buchanan.
General Benjamin Yeaten, Liberia's deputy chief of staff, told AFP government forces had come under attack in two major cities, Buchanan and Gbarnga, but rebels denied there were battles in the latter.
"There was no fighting (in Gbarnga). We are there for three weeks now," LURD's Sherriff said, but he warned: "If they want to fight, I'm ready anytime to retaliate."
However, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), a smaller rebel group based in the country's south, confirmed clashes in Buchanan, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) down the coast from Monrovia.
MODEL chairman Thomas Nimely said: "We were attacked at nine in the morning (0900 GMT) yesterday and we are trying to join up with ECOMIL to clear the corridor leading to Monrovia," referring to a west African peacekeeping force.
He said he had spoken to the head of the ECOMIL force, General Festus Okonkwo, and claimed that the Nigerian commander had approved his request for peacekeepers' help.
An official from the Firestone rubber plantation, located in Harbel near Monrovia's airport said he had seen two ECOMIL trucks, crammed with troops, head for Buchanan.
International aid workers were also to begin returning to Monrovia on Tuesday after being evacuated in June when rebel forces began laying siege to the capital.
Taylor, 55, left Monday after resisting crushing international pressure and the rebel onslaught for months.
The former warlord, indicted by a UN-backed court in Freetown for war crimes committed during Sierra Leone's brutal civil war, arrived early Tuesday in the southeastern Nigerian city of Calabar to begin a new life in exile.
However, a statement from the UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone Tuesday said Taylor "left Liberia as an indicted war criminal and remains an indicted war criminal".
It urged the international community to ensure that he was brought to book and said Taylor's escape into exile "was not accompanied by any promise of amnesty or legal barrier to prosecution.
"We call on the whole of the international community to take steps necessary to ensure that all those charged with violations of international humanitarian law are transferred into the custody of the Special Court," it added.
In Washington DC: Warlord Alhaji Kromah Plans Protest March
By Edith B. Weah
A group calling itself "National Civil Rights Movement" has said that it will be leading a two-day protest beginning September 17 at the Liberian Embassy in Washington D.C. USA
The so-called National Civil Rights Movement's "position statement" was posted on a website owned and operated by warlord Alhaji Kromah of the terror group oddly and wrongly calling itself "Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). For the fourth year running, LURD terrorists have been fighting the people and Government of Liberia.
The self-styled "Civil Rights Movement" says "its pending protest march on the Liberian Embassy is aimed at calling on the Liberian Government to free Mr. Hassan Bility from detention and to stop the harassment of Mandingoes."
Now, let us examine the real intention of these fingerful ethnic Mandingoes calling themselves "National Civil Rights Movement." Before we are misinterpreted, we hasten to make it crystal clear that this write-up about the pending protest march is not an indictment against the entire Mandingo tribe but this analysis is aimed at exposing the stalking horse and those who have concocted such childish prank, called "protest march" with the sole purpose of diverting the attention of the Liberian people and rest of the International Community from the LURD terrorists' crimes against humanity.
On several occasions, warlord Alhaji G.V. Kromah told international media institutions including the VOA, BBC, AP AFP, CNN etc. that his mind and heart were behind the war and that he (Kromah) is a supporter of the LURD terrorists. Yes, this is the unsolicited, voluntary and true confession of Alhaji Kromah. Indeed, warlord Kromah is the major planner of the pending Mandingos' protest on the grounds of the Liberian Embassy in the United States.
So, what are the issues Kromah and company are talking about? Let us now address the "issues" raised by Alhaji Kromah's "Civil Rights Movement": (1) what led to the detention of Mr. Hassan Bility? (2) Is the Liberian Government selectively targeting Mandingoes? Mr. Hassan Bility involvement with criminal activities has a history. Mr. Bility is a long time protégé of warlord Alhaji Kromah. During the Liberian civil war (1989-96) Alhaji Kromah alongside Hassan Bility created an armed terror group called Movement for the Redemption of Liberian Muslims (MRM). Even though the Liberian civil war was not fought on the basis of religion, unfortunately, this religion bigot and Islamic fundamentalist called Alhaji Kromah said that he created the (MRM) for the sole intent of redeeming and promoting Muslims, especially members of the Mandingoes tribe in the Muslim community. Alhaji Kromah later changed the nomenclature of his MRM Islamic terrorists to "ULIMO." Though the name was changed but the objective was the same. Elements of ULIMO now operating under the banner of LURD are presently killing, raping and maiming innocent people. LURD says it is fighting to topple the legitimate Government of Liberia.
On a fateful day in the Month of June 2002, Mr. Hassan Bility was caught red-handed sending and receiving messages via e-mail to and from Alhaji Kromah. In their communications, Bility and Kromah were planning strategies and tactics for the assassination of President Charles Taylor and the overthrow of the Liberian Government.
In the supreme interest of national security, the Liberian Government put together the necessary measures to safeguard lives and properties. The government arrested Hassan Bility and exhibited copies of Bility and Kromah's communications. The public was shocked by the terrible and atrocious content of the plotters' e-mail.
According to the Government of Liberia, Hassan Bility will be carried to the necessary court responsible to try a crime of such magnitude. The Liberian Government is not targeting Mandingoes or any other ethnic group. Those who were arrested are criminals. Hassan Bility's crime has no connection with his tribe. The government's action continues to receive popular support from well-meaning Liberians in Liberia and in the Diaspora. The Liberian people are supporting the government's action against the plotters not only because Liberians are tired with war but also the government's action is constitutional and redemptive. Why should Alhaji Kromah, Hassan Bility and their LURD terrorists continue to kill innocent Liberians and foreign residents within our borders? A war battered old lady, Madame Elizabeth Kiawu-Kofa asked. It is this detestation against the LURD terrorists' criminal activities, which Alhaji Kromah and his few Mandingoes tribesmen are trying to fight through their planned September 17 march. Liberians in America and at home are calling on the United States Government and by extension the rest of the International Community to help them put a stop to Alhaji Kromah LURD terrorists' criminal activities. Liberians are also calling on the International Community to help them in the reconstruction of their fatherland.
Again, we wish to remind Alhaji Kromah and his LURD terrorists' sympathizers that their so-called two-day protest march is a joke! It will not succeed.
Comments & Suggestions to: comment@allaboutliberia.com Copyright©2001
Date last updated: 11/07/2002 22:30:48
It's the very first that I've heard this, and if it is true, I'm going to be reenergized in my detestation of all news media.
Al Sharpton said the exact same thing on Hardball. Charles Taylor's people and LURD would put their guns down. Sharpton said its NOT another Somalia.
Well LURD isn't putting their guns down. They want power. While holding the port no food is coming in. Something has to be done BUSH???!!
You promised Marines BUSH. Where are the Marines Bush??What going on George??
Now, we have to fight these LURD morons or give them power in the country. I knew we'd be stuck in this friggin place all along.
That's what it seems to me. Pat Robertson is preachy but by no means a liar. I'm hoping against hope that Bush dosen't follow Clinton's example in taking the Islamists side in Kosovo.
First Milosevic and now Taylor? Following the Hague Tribunal has convinced me Milosevic should be exonerated. I, we, don't have the facts on Taylor yet, but it seems there's a skunk in the wood pile, imported from the ME.
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